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  1. caries love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Decay of a bone or tooth, especially dental caries.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A destructive disease of bone, causing a friable condition and worm-eaten appearance, attended with suppuration. It is probable that several distinct pathological processes lead to this morbid condition.
  2. n. A disease of the teeth, resulting in the disintegration of their substance and the formation of cavities. In man and carnivorous animals it is supposed to be caused by one of the bacteria, Leptothrix buccalis. See Leptothrix.
  3. n. In botany, decay of the walls of the cells and vessels.

Wiktionary

  1. n. The progressive destruction of bone or tooth by decay

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Med.) Ulceration of bone; a process in which bone disintegrates and is carried away piecemeal, as distinguished from necrosis, in which it dies in masses.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. soft decayed area in a tooth; progressive decay can lead to the death of a tooth

Etymologies

  1. From Latin caries. (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin cariēs. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. decay

reverse dictionary (20)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. cariosity
  2. carious
  3. odontonecrosis
  4. ossifluent
  1. pepperbrand
  2. pericementitis
  3. spondylarthrocace
  4. tooth-pulp
  1. arthrocace
  2. tilletia foetida
  3. cavity
  4. caries
  1. saprodontia
  2. stinking smut
  3. dental plaque
  4. bacterial plaque
  1. bunt
  2. Pott's disease
  3. attack
  4. jury-mast

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘caries’.

Comments

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  • knitandpurl "The dentist and I sat in his dusty surgery under a diorama of curiously garish posters depicting dental caries."
    Psychogeography by Will Self, 93 Oct 16, 2010

  • hernesheir The singular of caries rhymes well with lots of other words... "Have at it", as my Father would say. Sep 29, 2009

  • bilby Doggerel rots your teeth. Sep 29, 2009

  • sionnach God help me, but I can't stop!

    Lines composed while brushing and flossing

    If you should suffer from the caries,
    Which often times cause for despair is,
    Fear not for here in Buenos Aires,
    The quality of dental care is
    Very good, a thing that rare is
    But not down here in Buenos Aires
    The dentists, like benign tooth fairies
    Will save your teeth from Raton Perez.
    Cancel your trip to the Canaries!
    And come on down to Buenos Aires.
    Sep 29, 2009

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‘caries’ has been looked up 1680 times, added to 13 lists, commented on 4 times, and has a Scrabble score of 8.